Woodwardia unigemmata, the jewelled chain fern, is a species of evergreen fern native to Eastern Asia from the Himalayas to China, Japan and the Philippines. Growing to 1.5 m tall by 2.5 m broad, it bears pinnately-divided fronds which emerge red and turn green when mature. It occurs in areas of high rainfall. This plant is grown as an ornamental, and in the UK has gained the Royal Horticultural Society’s Award of Garden Merit. It is an imposing architectural subject which is thought to be hardy down to -10 C. However it requires a sheltered position in well-cultivated, reliably moist soil.
No narrative description available for this taxon yet.
A DNA barcode is a short, standardised stretch of genes that works like a fingerprint — enough to tell one species from another. Below is the molecular trace Woodwardia unigemmata has left across the world's sequence archives.
At a glance
DNA specimens11
Marker genes3
GenBank sequences10
eDNA detections11
Countries3
The DNA barcodea real sequence read deposited for this species
★ the standard DNA barcode for this group — the short region actually read to tell this species apart. The rest are extra genes sequenced along the way.
★matK1★rbcL8★ITS1
plant barcodefungal barcode
06Genome at a glanceCCDB
The complete instruction manualWoodwardia unigemmata carries — its genome. We read it from three angles — how big it is, how the DNA is packed into chromosomes, and how completely it has been sequenced — and explain how to read each value as you go.
Chromosomes & ploidyhow the DNA is packaged
2n is the full chromosome count in a normal body cell; n is a gamete (egg or sperm), which carries half. Ploidy is how many complete chromosome sets each cell holds — 2× (diploid) is typical for animals, while higher levels (polyploidy) are common in plants. Click any value below to see the underlying records and sources.
CCDB · ipcn-api-dl — Takamiya, M., K. Osato & K. Ono. 1992. Karyomorphological studies on Woodwardia sensu lato of Japan. Bot. Mag. (Tokyo) 105: 247–263.
CCDB · ipcn-api-dl — Khullar, S. P., S. S. Sharma & S. C. Verma. 1988. SOCGI plant chromosome number reports -- VI. J. Cytol. Genet. 23: 38–52.
CCDB · ipcn-api-dl — Punetha, N. 1989. Cytological observations on ferns of Kumaon (N. W. Himalaya). Aspects Pl. Sci. 11: 459–465.
CCDB · book-ipcn66 — Kurita 1966b
CCDB · book-ipcn67-71 — MITUI, K. 1968. Chromosomes and speciation in ferns. Sci. Rep. Tokyo Kyoiku Daigaku Sect. B 13: 285-333.
07Deep time~0.61 Ma lineage
How far back this lineage goes — and how we know. Everything here is measured in Ma, short for “mega-annum”: millions of years ago. The chart reads left to right like a calendar of the Earth, from the deep past on the left to today at the right edgetop to bottom like a core drilled through the Earth, from the deep past at the top down to today at the bottom.
At a glance
DNA clock origin0.61 Ma TimeTree
When this lineage existed
How to read this: the coloured strip along the bottomdown the left is the geological calendar — the standard epochs (Pliocene, Pleistocene…) every museum uses, shown so you can see which chapter of Earth's history this lineage lived in. This lineage is a young one, so the strip is zoomed in to epochs — the finer subdivisions inside a period. The orange marker is the DNA clock: DNA accumulates mutations at a roughly steady rate, so comparing this species' DNA with its relatives estimates when the lineage split off — independently of any fossil.
DNA clock origin
08Occurrence & distribution
Record type1 591 records
Wild obs. + sensor565
Museum / vouchered1 013
Cultivated / captive10
Other3
Origin
Native20
Range
Area of Occupancy AOO1 740 km²
Wildobservation + sensor
Human sightings and records, or camera-trap / sensor detections — someone (or a device) saw or captured the species in the wild.
Coordinate accuracy90% within 1 km
≤100 m 248≤1 km 66≤10 km 28>10 km 5
347 georeferenced · 218 without coordinates
Open the mapobservation + sensor565
Museum / Voucheredphysical evidence
Backed by a physical specimen — a herbarium sheet, sample or voucher held in a collection. “Vouchered” means supported by material evidence, not just an observation.
Coordinate accuracy14% within 1 km
≤100 m 3≤1 km 15≤10 km 110
128 georeferenced · 885 without coordinates
Open the institutions mapphysical evidence1 013
Cultivated / Captivenot free-living
A living individual in a botanical garden, zoo or nursery — cultivated or kept, not free-living.
Coordinate accuracy100% within 1 km
≤1 km 1
1 georeferenced · 9 without coordinates
Open the mapnot free-living10
Wildobservation + sensor
Human sightings and records, or camera-trap / sensor detections — someone (or a device) saw or captured the species in the wild.
10Collections & institutions
Holding institutions38 of 58 geolocated
Institutions and collections holding physical, vouchered specimens of this species — click a row to fly to it on the map.
Institution
Specimens
Chengdu, CN
230
Beijing, CN
222
Tsukuba, JP
121
Yunnan Universitylocation not on record
74
Taipei, TW
65
Wuhan, CN
31
TAIElocation not on record
20
Guangzhou, CN
20
Nanjing, CN
19
Chengdu, CN
13
Paris, FR
13
Yangling, CN
13
Bronx, US
12
Seoul, KR
11
South Kensington, GB
10
Wuhan, CN
10
Taipei, TW
9
Chicago, US
9
Xian, CN
8
CASlocation not on record
8
Guiyang, CN
8
Guilin, CN
7
Saint Louis, US
7
Kew, GB
6
Chongqing Natural History Museumlocation not on record
5
University of Stellenboschlocation not on record
5
Jiangxi Universitylocation not on record
4
Muzaffarabad, PK
3
Dehra Dun, IN
3
Zhejiang Universitylocation not on record
2
Southwest Forestry Collegelocation not on record
2
Fort Worth, US
2
Nishihara, JP
2
Xiangtan City, CN
2
Central China Agricultural Universitylocation not on record
2
WTUlocation not on record
2
Shenzhen, CN
2
GMBAlocation not on record
2
Xishuangbanna Tropical Botanical Garden, Academia Sinicalocation not on record
1
Kunming, CN
1
Vancouver, CA
1
黔东南州民族医药研究所标本室location not on record
1
Ischia Marine Centrelocation not on record
1
Chengdu, CN
1
Xining, CN
1
Shanghai, CN
1
Jiangxi College of Traditional Chinese Medicinelocation not on record
1
Awka, NG
1
UFPRlocation not on record
1
Sendai, JP
1
Zhuzhou, CN
1
Honolulu, US
1
Burlington, US
1
武陵山动植物研究所location not on record
1
BJUlocation not on record
1
Edinburgh, GB
1
Port Elizabeth Museum (Bayworld)location not on record
1
Institute for Agricultural Bacteriology and Fermentation Biologylocation not on record
1
58 institutions · 1 004 of 1 013 vouchered records shown
Cultivated / Captivenot free-living
A living individual in a botanical garden, zoo or nursery — cultivated or kept, not free-living.
09Environmental DNA11 detections
Where the DNA of Woodwardia unigemmata was picked up in samples of water, soil or air — nobody saw the organism, only its DNA left behind. A trace is a clue that the species was near, not a confirmed sighting.
Signal
Detections DNA found11
Studies independent surveys1
Countries3
Signal confidence: weakweighed across independent studies, places & mapped detections
Where its DNA was found
0 of 11 detections have coordinates
Open the map3 countries0
How strong is each trace?
DNA read depthRead counts were not reported for this species — the map shows presence only, not how strong each trace was.
Modelled climatemodelled
−15°Ctemperature across detection sites+40°C
Temperature median10.0 °C 9.40–20.0
Seasonal swing summer↔winter31.5 °C
Max temp (day)15.8 °C 14.5–24.3
Min temp (night)3.60 °C 3.40–15.3
Precipitation23.3 mm/mo 10.4–331
Air humidity48.1 % 47.9–65.1
Moisture balance-73.1 mm/mo -112–235
Vapour deficit636 Pa 595–1,123
Wind speed4.20 m/s 2.50–4.50
Cloud cover22.3 % 18.1–45.2
CHELSA 1981–2010, ~9 km grid, at location & month of 9 detection points · median with p10–p90 · reflects where sampling happened, not only the true niche
How to read this: each dot is one detection of this species' DNA in an environmental sample. The confidence meter weighs how many independent studies and places back up the signal — one detection in one study is a hint; many across several studies is solid. Records dated before 2008 (when eDNA methods began) are treated as likely mislabeled and left off the map.
WikipediaWikimedia Foundation3 languages↗
BioWikiNetmultilingual Wikipediamultilingual↗
GBIFGlobal Biodiversity Information Facility1 591 records↗
ENAEuropean Nucleotide Archive · EMBL-EBI11 eDNA detections↗
BOLD SystemsCentre for Biodiversity Genomics11 specimens↗
NCBIUS National Library of Medicinesequences↗
GRIN TaxonomyUSDA-ARSdistribution & uses↗
Open Tree of LifeOpenTreephylogeny backbone↗
CCDBChromosome Counts DB · Tel Aviv U.genome & karyotype↗